LAVA Case update Nov 2025 - Summing up on 4th, 5th Nov.

We urgently need your support to cover the increasing cost of our court case.

Our new cost estimates are looking much closer to $125,000 — far beyond anything we imagined when we took our stand in 2021 by filing a Human Rights Commission complaint over our exclusion from Wellington Pride.

This week, on the 4th and 5th of November, both sides will deliver their closing statements. Our KC, Nicolette Levy, has worked tirelessly to prepare and present our case before the Human Rights Review Tribunal — arguing that LAVA’s belief that women are adult human females and that lesbians are same-sex, not same-gender, attracted is both reasonable and deserving of protection as a political opinion under the Human Rights Act.

A strict court embargo prevents us from explaining the reasons for the huge surge in costs — we have been told that even the briefest of public comment about the case could risk us being held in contempt of Court. We will let you know as soon as we can!

In an opinion piece in the NZ Listener, Retired Judge David Harvey says the gag on discussion “makes a mockery of open justice”, comparing it to the Inquisition and Star Chambers. Read more here

Every contribution, large or small, will help us see this case through to its conclusion.

Please chip in if you can, and help spread the word. Let’s bring international and New Zealand’s attention and support to the case as it reaches its final stage.